Illegal Immigration Hiring Law In Georgia Has Been Ignored

The 2006 Immigration Security and Compliance Act passed by the Georgia legislature hasn't been enforced due to lack of knowledge by state agencies and lack of funding by the legislature.

The 2006 Georgia Immigration Security and Compliance Act was supposed to make local governments and their contractors and subcontractors to verify the legal status of their new employees. The law hasn't been enforced and funding to enforce the law hasn't been provided to local governments by the state legislature. Every government agency in the state of Georgia was required to sign up with the federal Homeland Security Department to verify the status of newly hired workers. The Georgia Department of Labor was assigned to set up guidelines for implementing the act. They don't have any idea which agencies or governments are complying with the law. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on other provisions of the Immigration Security and Compliance Act: ''Illegal immigrants arrested for a felony or DUI to be reported to immigration authorities, and for governments to make sure they don't give welfare to illegal immigrants.'' The Georgia Legislature hasn't provided any money for monitoring the law. The Labor Department posted guidelines on its website and offered to do random audits if it received funding for them. No one in state government knows which local agencies are complying with the law. The law was originally entitled SB 529. It required all government offices to sign up for E-Verify which is the free national database that checks whether someone can legally work in this country. All businesses that have more than 100 employees that do government work are supposed to be registered by now. Businesses with less than 100 employees that are doing government work aren't required to sign up until July. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the following: ''Most Georgia governments have signed up for the computer program that matches up an employee's name against Social Security and immigration data. Many were a year late in doing so. But some smaller governments still haven't signed up.'' Nobody has determined whether or not governments that have signed up are actually using the service and enforcing the spirit of the law. Some employers hire ''independent contractors'' as a way to get around hiring laws. The Immigration Security and Compliance Act uses the tax code to crack down on businesses that employ ''independent contractors.'' If they don't comply with the new tax rules, the businesses would be penalized with an audit by the Department of Revenue. Police are also required to check the legal status of anyone charged with a felony or DUI. According to Mark Newman, who is an attorney advising businesses on immigration law, most businesses don't know about what the compliance act requires them to do. Newman says that the state doesn't seem to care if the law is enforced or not. The lack of enforcement and knowledge concerning the law from local officials is frustrating to the sponsor of the legislation. Senator Chip Rogers is the Georgia Senate Majority Leader from Woodstock, Georgia. He introduced an amendment that would tighten up enforcement of the law last year but it became mired in the Georgian House. He is waiting for House action this year. Rogers has had many conversations with local and county officials regarding the law. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quotes Rogers' take from his conversations: ''I didn't know I had to. Some don't know they have to, and some simply aren't doing their job.'' Supporters of the law cry out for lack of enforcement funding. Critics contend it's a waste of time, money and effort. In the middle of this battle are the local government officials. Small cities don't know that they have to comply with E-Verify. Janice Truhan is a city clerk for Jonesboro, Georgia. She has been following instructions and computer tutorials since July but the program doesn't let her process new applications after she enters her password. D.A. King is president of the Dustin Inman Society which is a Marietta, Georgia group advocating stricter immigration laws. He says that he will push the legislature for money to fund enforcement or authorize the state to withhold money from local governments who refuse to comply with the law. Charles Kuck is an immigration attorney and he believes that since Georgia is cash-strapped like most states from the recession; funding for enforcement won't be coming and the law won't be repealed either because of politics. The status quo will probably remain and nothing will happen one way or the other.